I must confess, I've only been following this on and off, so I do believe I've been missing some major plot happenings. I suspect that Weaboo Fightan Magic is involved, however.
Let's Sperg Namco x Capcom - Turn-based SRPG autism where Dig Dug is a total badass
- Thread starter GethN7
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Sister services, email, and search will continue to be negatively effected by the attacks. I made a thread to talk about it, if you're into networking.
Kinda sorta.
I pointed out all the clues that were important in the previous stages, but I'll go over the high points in summary here and see if anyone can figure out what the Ouma did to make their plans work:
1. They wanted to create a Tsukumogami, a being with the powers of a god.
2. They really wanted and needed the Soul Edge to complete it, but were never able to get their hands on it or a decent substitute.
3. They created vessels based off Saya called "Katanas" to perfect the concept and work out any bugs in the plan.
4. They never got their plan too far past the planning stages ten years ago but pulled it off to completion ten years later despite the setbacks I mentioned.
5. While the others they worked with were important to the plan itself, the independent plans of their collaborators were both necessary and not necessary to make it work.
6. They needed the worlds saved from what they had set in motion to make their true goals succeed.
I'll finish Part 2 of the final stage later today, but for now, here's how the Ouma's master plan worked.
Way back when Reiji's dad died and his son took a hit for him is when the Ouma started attempt number two. In fact, things were engineered that way on purpose, as in, Reiji was meant to take that hit, because at that point in time, he got marked with what amounted to a magical tracking chip, which is why Saya just kept showing up where he was and her excuses for the coincidence eventually stopped because to some extent Reiji already figured it out.
The reason for this was that when they were ready to set their second attempt in motion, Reiji was meant to play a part in helping their plan succeed without him figuring out he was actually helping them, though Saya had a lot of fun seeing if he could figure things out anyway.
The actual plan was, in reality, quite simple. In the ten years since the Ouma's Tsukumogami got sealed away in the Abyss of Time, Saya was actually out of action for most of that period anyway working on how to get the plan back up off the ground (she also had to break back into the Abyss of Time to pull this off, no easy feat, but the events of ten years ago wore a bald spot in the dimensional fabric that made this easier to accomplish, hence why everything started in Shibuya).
By the time she returned to making the plan work, they had actually managed to fill in most of the blanks for what their plan had needed the last time, except one.
The Soul Edge.
As those familiar with the Soul Calibur series are aware, it's a slippery cursed blade that has a tendency to do it's own thing, and as we saw at various points, can warp through time and space at will, and when the dimension walls were pretty strong this meant it was a pain in the ass trying to track it down, since it took a lot of power to open holes between dimensions, power they needed for their plans. The other half of the reason they needed it was insurance, as in, the Soul Edge had enough power on its own full control of its powers would make it damned hard for their plan to fail twice.
And so this meant the Ouma had to get some help, both to make the walls between dimensions silly putty, and to make sure they could do their own thing with minimal interference, hence their collusion with all the villain groups.
Around the time Reiji and Xiaomu started investigating was also part of the plan, because the Ouma needed Reiji, Xiaomu, and everyone else they picked up to run interference and keep the other villain factions busy, as they ultimately planned to stab them all in the back, as Bison realized to a degree and called Saya on at one point. At the same time, the good guys were a control element to make sure none of the other villain factions got so powerful they could screw things up for the Ouma, so Shinra taking out the other factions helped them clean up loose ends on their own side that could come back to haunt them later.
Things didn't go perfectly, though. Bison and a few of the other villains figured out to some greater or lesser degree what the Ouma were working on, but aside from Bison, most were preoccupied with their own goals, and in Bison's case, he was too egotistical to give a shit. It's worth mentioning villains like the Grand Master needed to be taken out because guys like him and Bison had the capability to screw the Ouma over long term, so Saya wasn't so much helping them as putting up a good front to deflect suspicion and make sure Shinra played their unwitting roles as the Ouma's cleanup crew.
The Katanas fit into the plan because the Ouma were trying to CREATE a Tsukumogami, and they were based off Saya for two reasons: In the event Saya croaked towards the end, they were designed to be spare bodies she could hop into to keep working on things, and they were "vessels" meant to test bed the "create your own deity" project".
The independent plans of the villains were useful to a degree for the Ouma though, because they needed the dimensional walls to be so weak the Ouma didn't have to expend a lot of effort dimension hopping like they would have needed to otherwise, as the other villains made the dimensional barrier so weak they could more easily warp around until they hunted down the Soul Edge. Thanks to the fact Taki and Mitsurugi wound up tagging along with the others, the Soul Edge basically wound up following Reiji around and Saya followed by extension.
The Ouma also had a plan B if getting the Soul Edge or, as in their failed attempt to get Kagekiyo's blade went, a decent substitute, didn't pan out, and when it became obvious their Plan A of the aforementioned was off the table, Plan B was set in motion around the time after you guys killed the Grand Master.
Reiji was goaded by Saya into killing her.
The reason is quite simple: Saya was both the "trigger" for Plan B and a physical extension of the Tsukumogami, which was still stuck in the Abyss of Time, so when Reiji was goaded into capping Saya, this caused Saya's soul to head back to the Abyss of Time (which had finally been opened enough by all the dimensional transfers and all the other crap that had escaped prior to make this a lot easier to accomplish, as Joka hinted at during his last appearance), and it switched places with the Tsukumogami (the Katanas were meant to test bed this very idea and work out any remaining bugs in the concept), which was able to establish a foothold in the Material World where the dimensions were starting to heal, and it used it's own powers to redirect that dimensional energy towards itself, allowing the Ouma to use the energy of the dimensional walls healing to merge the worlds together, or "healing" the rifts on their own terms. It was also meant to make up for the fact they couldn't get their hands on the Soul Edge, which would have made this step unnecessary.
To use a Marvel Comics example, if the Tsukumogami was Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, then Reiji and friends along with the villains were unwittingly goaded into getting all the Infinity Gems in one place, then creating the circumstances to make it easy for Thanos to get ahold of them all in one shot.
This now means the dimensional barriers aren't healing now, they are merging together towards the Tsukumogami in the Abyss of Time, and if they manage to finish this before it can be stopped, like Thanos, it will effectively become one with the fabric of space and time and, for intents and purposes, become a god over the same.
Way back when Reiji's dad died and his son took a hit for him is when the Ouma started attempt number two. In fact, things were engineered that way on purpose, as in, Reiji was meant to take that hit, because at that point in time, he got marked with what amounted to a magical tracking chip, which is why Saya just kept showing up where he was and her excuses for the coincidence eventually stopped because to some extent Reiji already figured it out.
The reason for this was that when they were ready to set their second attempt in motion, Reiji was meant to play a part in helping their plan succeed without him figuring out he was actually helping them, though Saya had a lot of fun seeing if he could figure things out anyway.
The actual plan was, in reality, quite simple. In the ten years since the Ouma's Tsukumogami got sealed away in the Abyss of Time, Saya was actually out of action for most of that period anyway working on how to get the plan back up off the ground (she also had to break back into the Abyss of Time to pull this off, no easy feat, but the events of ten years ago wore a bald spot in the dimensional fabric that made this easier to accomplish, hence why everything started in Shibuya).
By the time she returned to making the plan work, they had actually managed to fill in most of the blanks for what their plan had needed the last time, except one.
The Soul Edge.
As those familiar with the Soul Calibur series are aware, it's a slippery cursed blade that has a tendency to do it's own thing, and as we saw at various points, can warp through time and space at will, and when the dimension walls were pretty strong this meant it was a pain in the ass trying to track it down, since it took a lot of power to open holes between dimensions, power they needed for their plans. The other half of the reason they needed it was insurance, as in, the Soul Edge had enough power on its own full control of its powers would make it damned hard for their plan to fail twice.
And so this meant the Ouma had to get some help, both to make the walls between dimensions silly putty, and to make sure they could do their own thing with minimal interference, hence their collusion with all the villain groups.
Around the time Reiji and Xiaomu started investigating was also part of the plan, because the Ouma needed Reiji, Xiaomu, and everyone else they picked up to run interference and keep the other villain factions busy, as they ultimately planned to stab them all in the back, as Bison realized to a degree and called Saya on at one point. At the same time, the good guys were a control element to make sure none of the other villain factions got so powerful they could screw things up for the Ouma, so Shinra taking out the other factions helped them clean up loose ends on their own side that could come back to haunt them later.
Things didn't go perfectly, though. Bison and a few of the other villains figured out to some greater or lesser degree what the Ouma were working on, but aside from Bison, most were preoccupied with their own goals, and in Bison's case, he was too egotistical to give a shit. It's worth mentioning villains like the Grand Master needed to be taken out because guys like him and Bison had the capability to screw the Ouma over long term, so Saya wasn't so much helping them as putting up a good front to deflect suspicion and make sure Shinra played their unwitting roles as the Ouma's cleanup crew.
The Katanas fit into the plan because the Ouma were trying to CREATE a Tsukumogami, and they were based off Saya for two reasons: In the event Saya croaked towards the end, they were designed to be spare bodies she could hop into to keep working on things, and they were "vessels" meant to test bed the "create your own deity" project".
The independent plans of the villains were useful to a degree for the Ouma though, because they needed the dimensional walls to be so weak the Ouma didn't have to expend a lot of effort dimension hopping like they would have needed to otherwise, as the other villains made the dimensional barrier so weak they could more easily warp around until they hunted down the Soul Edge. Thanks to the fact Taki and Mitsurugi wound up tagging along with the others, the Soul Edge basically wound up following Reiji around and Saya followed by extension.
The Ouma also had a plan B if getting the Soul Edge or, as in their failed attempt to get Kagekiyo's blade went, a decent substitute, didn't pan out, and when it became obvious their Plan A of the aforementioned was off the table, Plan B was set in motion around the time after you guys killed the Grand Master.
Reiji was goaded by Saya into killing her.
The reason is quite simple: Saya was both the "trigger" for Plan B and a physical extension of the Tsukumogami, which was still stuck in the Abyss of Time, so when Reiji was goaded into capping Saya, this caused Saya's soul to head back to the Abyss of Time (which had finally been opened enough by all the dimensional transfers and all the other crap that had escaped prior to make this a lot easier to accomplish, as Joka hinted at during his last appearance), and it switched places with the Tsukumogami (the Katanas were meant to test bed this very idea and work out any remaining bugs in the concept), which was able to establish a foothold in the Material World where the dimensions were starting to heal, and it used it's own powers to redirect that dimensional energy towards itself, allowing the Ouma to use the energy of the dimensional walls healing to merge the worlds together, or "healing" the rifts on their own terms. It was also meant to make up for the fact they couldn't get their hands on the Soul Edge, which would have made this step unnecessary.
To use a Marvel Comics example, if the Tsukumogami was Thanos and the Infinity Gauntlet, then Reiji and friends along with the villains were unwittingly goaded into getting all the Infinity Gems in one place, then creating the circumstances to make it easy for Thanos to get ahold of them all in one shot.
This now means the dimensional barriers aren't healing now, they are merging together towards the Tsukumogami in the Abyss of Time, and if they manage to finish this before it can be stopped, like Thanos, it will effectively become one with the fabric of space and time and, for intents and purposes, become a god over the same.
Chapter 45 - Arisu Of The Street Of Demise (Part 2)
As the dimensional transfer fades, we see this nightmarish, pieced together mish-mash of all the other worlds:
And as Reiji and Xiaomu barely have enough time to take this in, this freaky cross between the Sorceress Adel boss fight from FF8 and the Neo Granzon from Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden with a red and black paint job laugh in your face about how you brought it to full power.
She explains everything I mentioned in the prior post, with the added bonus that it's only a matter of time
before the worlds fuse completely because you helped the Ouma succeed, and since the entire realm is mess of dimensional vortexes, you'll have to hoof it over to where the Ouma's Tsukumogami, named 99 (since it's missing the Soul Edge) is.
There is a bit of drama where Reiji tries to do like his dad did and suicide himself to stop the Ouma, even though it's likely not gonna work, Xiaomu tells him to not try, it only worked then because his dad spent his own lifeforce to pull it off, and she doesn't want Reiji to die the same way. When he tries to protest, she points out that her helping power up the seal Reiji's dad used only sped up Shougo Arisu's death, and she's not going to be responsible for the death of his son the same way.
He still isn't listening, but the rest of the team shows up because Ishtar kinda saw this development a mile away and had them hang around and tells him to quit being a retard, they can just beat this fucker till it dies like they have everything else.
You can choose up to fifteen people, and I recommend putting all the best damage dealers and free turn spell slingers on the team. Once ready the final stage begins.
This level is gonna be the boss rush from hell, and the best way to survive largely depends on how badly you paid attention during all the previous levels.
As soon as you reach the outer rim of the Infernal Realm section, you'll have to fight Astaroth, Nebiros, the Allosaurus, and some elite Demon's Blazons forces.
You can use Astaroth as an MP pinata, and if you're smart can make it through these guys with hardly any damage.
The next part of the boss rush will not start until you cross over past the border of where the desert begins, so get everyone on your team in place, then cross when ready.
When you do, Druaga, Kamuze, and Zouna want to go for round 2, as well as a few of their assorted goons.
The layout of the battlefield gives you a chance to bottleneck the enemy forces until you're ready to gang up on them, so do this.
Again, if you're smart, you can make it through these guys without a lot of damage as well.
Part 3 of the boss rush will not begin until you climb the first step of the Path of Penance, but once you do, the Genji clan and some assorted Baraduke goons show up.
Yoshitsune is a massive pile of MP you can drain if need be, and you can likely take down all the Genji clan in a few turns.
Before we begin the next part, DO NOT climb the steps past where Yoritomo was or move onto any tile adjacent to them before you are ready, as that will trigger the final part of the battle.
Once ready, move someone, and 99 finally takes the field, along with some Ouma goons and Saya's minotaur and centaur groupies.
Before we get on to taking down 99, kill the goons first. 99 is a monster that will be hell on earth, you don;t want to have to get stabbed in the back in the process. Kill Saya's groupies first of all, their poison is beyond deadly.
As for 99, here's what you are looking at. She has 47000 HP, nearly five times that of any other boss, is resistant to stunning and any type of status attacks, is resistant to every type of damage, and gets turns faster than Akuma in his most optimistic wet dreams.
She will make every attempt to gun for Reiji and Xiaomu (who will cause game over if they die) unless you throw bodies in the way, so gang up on this asshole. Since it's resistant to everything, this will be a war of attrition.
It's stats are maxed out on damn near every front, so don't be surprised if even units like KOS-MOS get killed by this monster. Having a lot of revival items will help immensely.
Worse, it's super attack charges very fast and can murder damned near anyone, so if you want to prevent this, you'll have to force it to counterattack someone before it can rip off a super, which will hurt like hell but is much more survivable, and it will waste turns for this asshat.
It will take awhile, you will likely have several croak, but after a LONG fight, 99 will finally die.
...and I'll cover the ending next update, I had to reconstitute this level after the "THE WORLD IS A FUCK" database repair.
As the dimensional transfer fades, we see this nightmarish, pieced together mish-mash of all the other worlds:
And as Reiji and Xiaomu barely have enough time to take this in, this freaky cross between the Sorceress Adel boss fight from FF8 and the Neo Granzon from Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden with a red and black paint job laugh in your face about how you brought it to full power.
She explains everything I mentioned in the prior post, with the added bonus that it's only a matter of time
before the worlds fuse completely because you helped the Ouma succeed, and since the entire realm is mess of dimensional vortexes, you'll have to hoof it over to where the Ouma's Tsukumogami, named 99 (since it's missing the Soul Edge) is.
There is a bit of drama where Reiji tries to do like his dad did and suicide himself to stop the Ouma, even though it's likely not gonna work, Xiaomu tells him to not try, it only worked then because his dad spent his own lifeforce to pull it off, and she doesn't want Reiji to die the same way. When he tries to protest, she points out that her helping power up the seal Reiji's dad used only sped up Shougo Arisu's death, and she's not going to be responsible for the death of his son the same way.
He still isn't listening, but the rest of the team shows up because Ishtar kinda saw this development a mile away and had them hang around and tells him to quit being a retard, they can just beat this fucker till it dies like they have everything else.
You can choose up to fifteen people, and I recommend putting all the best damage dealers and free turn spell slingers on the team. Once ready the final stage begins.
This level is gonna be the boss rush from hell, and the best way to survive largely depends on how badly you paid attention during all the previous levels.
As soon as you reach the outer rim of the Infernal Realm section, you'll have to fight Astaroth, Nebiros, the Allosaurus, and some elite Demon's Blazons forces.
You can use Astaroth as an MP pinata, and if you're smart can make it through these guys with hardly any damage.
The next part of the boss rush will not start until you cross over past the border of where the desert begins, so get everyone on your team in place, then cross when ready.
When you do, Druaga, Kamuze, and Zouna want to go for round 2, as well as a few of their assorted goons.
The layout of the battlefield gives you a chance to bottleneck the enemy forces until you're ready to gang up on them, so do this.
Again, if you're smart, you can make it through these guys without a lot of damage as well.
Part 3 of the boss rush will not begin until you climb the first step of the Path of Penance, but once you do, the Genji clan and some assorted Baraduke goons show up.
Yoshitsune is a massive pile of MP you can drain if need be, and you can likely take down all the Genji clan in a few turns.
Before we begin the next part, DO NOT climb the steps past where Yoritomo was or move onto any tile adjacent to them before you are ready, as that will trigger the final part of the battle.
Once ready, move someone, and 99 finally takes the field, along with some Ouma goons and Saya's minotaur and centaur groupies.
Before we get on to taking down 99, kill the goons first. 99 is a monster that will be hell on earth, you don;t want to have to get stabbed in the back in the process. Kill Saya's groupies first of all, their poison is beyond deadly.
As for 99, here's what you are looking at. She has 47000 HP, nearly five times that of any other boss, is resistant to stunning and any type of status attacks, is resistant to every type of damage, and gets turns faster than Akuma in his most optimistic wet dreams.
She will make every attempt to gun for Reiji and Xiaomu (who will cause game over if they die) unless you throw bodies in the way, so gang up on this asshole. Since it's resistant to everything, this will be a war of attrition.
It's stats are maxed out on damn near every front, so don't be surprised if even units like KOS-MOS get killed by this monster. Having a lot of revival items will help immensely.
Worse, it's super attack charges very fast and can murder damned near anyone, so if you want to prevent this, you'll have to force it to counterattack someone before it can rip off a super, which will hurt like hell but is much more survivable, and it will waste turns for this asshat.
It will take awhile, you will likely have several croak, but after a LONG fight, 99 will finally die.
...and I'll cover the ending next update, I had to reconstitute this level after the "THE WORLD IS A FUCK" database repair.
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The End
This post is gonna cover the ending, and since there isn't a ton of new art here, it's gonna be a bit light on pictures.
Anyway, we resume as 99 just got the shit kicked out of it, and it can't accept it had Thanos level power post-Infinity Gauntlet and still got it's ass beat, and Reiji laughs in its dying face as both he and Xiaomu just empty their guns into its corpse and slash the damn thing until it flies apart and chunks of its corpse get splattered all over time and space, telling it that it was so pathetic it had to leech off Saya to get anything done, that's why it got it's ass kicked by those who fight side by side willingly.
This cuts Saya free of 99, and apparently, she's stuck in a twilight state between life and death (remember, she is in some ways still bound to Reiji as well) thanks to 99 using her a meat puppet for its own soul, and she asks Reiji to put a cap in her one last time, so she can finally leave this inbetween state she's in.
Xiaomu doesn't feel he needs to bother, but he apparently feels a little sorry for her now that he vented his rage and got past the demons of his late dad, so he decides to oblige her.
After telling her, not entirely unkindly, to "Go To Hell", he pulls the trigger.
They don't have a lot of time to reflect on Saya's demise, though, since 99's death is now causing this clusterfuck of the worlds it tried to make to come unfurled back into it's proper shape once more, and Ishtar shows up in person to tell you all she needs to send you all back to your own worlds ASAP before that happens, or it's gonna be a pain to get this done after.
Andaba also shows up for the undead cast members for reasons that should be obvious, their battles are now over and so is their reason for remaining on this mortal coil.
With that, everyone has to give some abbreviated goodbyes, with Hiryuu brushing it all off as just another mission, Alpha and Beta are like "well, looks like it's back to the old routine", the Commando Team echoes the sentiment, and Sho and Guy exchange farewells, grateful they got a chance to use the skills of their mutual school of martial arts to purge evil from the worlds.
Tron's not all the comfy with the sappy stuff and just wants to leave, and her and Roll start bitching over her callousness. Taizou LOLs at this and is just proud he got a lot of adventure where he got to dig through some major problems checked off his bucket list, while Masuyo sarcastically snarks he might have had fun, but she's gonna have one hell of a report she'll have to file when she gets back.
Xiaomu sympathizes over having to answer to The Man, and Bruce tells them to relax, and Regina snarks about how America's armed forces are in trouble with a lazy guy like him in the ranks.
KOS-MOS then cuts this short by saying they really should keep this brief for safety reasons, and after Shion says a blanket farewell to Reiji and Xiaomu, thanking them for their meeting, all the future worlders go back to their own world.
Demitri has to be more of a spoilsport and just asks Ishtar to send him back to his castle already and Morrigan chides him for being an ass.
Stahn wants Leon to return to their world, but Leon points out he's already alive past his time, he must go to his reward now, but at least he can go to that reward knowing he was able to atone to Stahn and Rutee for all he had done and die as their friend.
Armor King feels the same way, and King II promises to bring honor to the title of King.
With that, Andaba promises she'll pay their fare across the River Styx for free this time once they are done, in honor of their valor as warriors who saved the universe.
Tarosuke is actually a little sad to see Kagekiyo go, and Kagekiyo actually calls him by name for once and tells Tarosuke he was proud to have fought by his side.
And with that, Rose promises that if they are allowed, they will return, and then Andaba takes everyone from the underworld back to their respective homes.
The Soul Calibur cast then say their farewells, and Wayahime tells Taki she'll keep the memories of their time together forever, and then they go back to their own time.
That just leaves everyone from the Fantasy world, who wonder what will happen to the screwed up snarls in the worlds like the one they are in, and Ishtar says they'll sort themselves out, so don't worry.
Rutee is happy at least she won;t have to clean it all up, she gets called on being self centered, and Gantz is just happy he had fun and killed the asshole who murdered his father.
Klonoa and Valkyrie give their goodbyes, and everyone from the Fantasy World returns to their realm.
That just leaves everyone from the Material World, who are all like "after all that, a break sounds nice", save Heihachi, who tries to troll Jin into a fight, but Jin doesn't take the bait, telling his grandpa he'll still have another chance to get the Devil Gene, just not today, he's not in the mood.
Heihachi quietly admits to himself he's a bit proud how his grandson grew up a little, and Ishtar takes requests for being sent home from the various cast members, prompting Xioamu to complain it's a bit crass to treat a GODDESS like a taxi driver.
Ishtar is cool with it though, figures it's only fair enough given all the crap they just went through, and then the remaining warriors are sent back to their own times and places.
Cue time skip.
We cut to Metro City, where Ken and Ryu get handed invitations from someone by Chun-li and Cammy, as did everyone else they know.
An invitation to Demitri's Castle to be exact, who is apparently throwing a party, where everyone who got a letter is invited.
We then cut to Hideo and Kyoko's school, where Karin is handing out invitations to them and Sakura.
We cut to the Namco Theater, where Felicia and Wonder Momo get to finally perform together, and after the show, King and Nakamura remark on it and how Amazona is back and apparently remembers nothing of her time as a demonic servant. Nakamura then wonders if Black Bravo (aka Tajima) is still around, and Wayahime shows up to confirm, yep, he's still around, and the both of them confirm they got invitations, and Nakamura was going to give Momo hers soon.
We then cut to the Spencer Lane, where Fong Ling is face palming at the deja vu, as is Regina, but Bruce is like "well, I'm just here to hand you guys these invitations I got", and Hsien-ko is surprised at Demitri for being so nice.
We also get confirmation Bruce has two more invites to hand Jin and Heihachi, and we also find out Heihachi wanted the T-Virus awhile back, and handing an invite to a guy Bruce would otherwise slap cuffs on if that had gone through is a bit awkward.
We then cut to the River Styx, where Kagekiyo is surprised to have his eternal rest interrupted, but Andaba tells him no, the Genji are still dead, you just got woke up for a brief party, and you've been granted temporary living rights to enjoy it by special dispensation of Enma. Rose and Armor King got this too, as did Judas, and Kagekiyo is all "Uhhhhhh.....okay."
We then cut to a bamboo grove, where Taki and Mitsurugi are bitching at each other over the Soul Edge AGAIN, but Tarosuke shows up and hands them invites, killing the tense mood, and the both of them decide to put their little fracas on hold until they look into this invite.
We cut back to the ruins of Druaga's Tower, where Rutee is again bitching about Gil being late like in their prolouge stage, only this time it's Arthur who is late, and Stahn comments on the deja vu, and Arthur finally shows up, and, in what he finds no small irony, hands them invites to party in a castle in Hell.
We then cut to the Temple of the Heavens, where Lolo, Gilgamesh and Kai hand Klonoa and Gantz their invites.
At Ishtar's temple, Valkyrie shows up, all super serious, but Ishtar tells her "lol, calm down, I just wanted to hand you a party invite", and asks her to hand two others to Kurino and Sabine.
We then cut to the cruiser Elza, where Shion is doing a check-up on KOS-MOS, and Shion complains to MOMO that all the fights KOS-MOS went through forced her to have to re-adjust all of her joints due to all the stress on her mainframe.
Allen Marks shows up for the second and final time, just long enough to tell Shion the Commando Team is paying a social call, and hands her an invite letter, and she has no clue what the hell is going on.
We cut to the Flutter, where Taizou is getting dropped off by Mega and Roll, at the same ruins they were checking out before the whole merging of the worlds crap, and Taizou muses the kind of exploring he's been doing lately is a lot less like digging and more like drilling lately (Nice Mr. Driller reference Namco), prompting Masuyo to show up via radio and snarkily call him Mr. Driller (a title their son would actually hold), and it seems she and Hiromi got a ride with Tron's ship so they could hand out some invites they got.
We then cut to Slyphie's shop, and when Alpha and Beta show up, she's like "okay, what do you need to buy this time", and after a little BSing she hands them an invite. Hiryuu pops in a little while later to pick an order for an energy pack, and she hands him an invite too.
We then cut to Demitri's palace, where a party is in full swing, and Bruce sardonically comments on the irony of having a party in Hell, to which Alpha has this retort:
Regina wonders if it's bad the worlds are connected like this again (despite this being on a very small, controlled scale), but Valkyrie tells them to chill, Ishtar personally worked on making this stable herself.
Meanwhile, Heihachi and Jin are about to resume beating the crap out of each other, but Ryu kills the mood by saying he wants to challenge Jin first (NOTE, all future crossover games of Namco and Capcom would use N x C as the precedent for future throwdowns like this)
Strangely, Guy is like "oh, when in Rome" and wants to join the melee, prompting Sho to be all "WUT?"
The Captain tries to call them to order, but Karin tells him he's likely wasting his time, and besides, she could use the entertainment, a sentiment even Mitsurugi is down with.
Even Hideo wants to join in, prompting Kyoko to facepalm, and even Haggar wants to join in, and while he cuts a manly figure in a suit, it's kinda weird at the same time:
He then sheds the suit jacket and even King is down for this, with Armor King up for a little tag action.
Mega and Roll are just staring, wondering what the heck got into everyone, while even Chun-li is getting all hotblooded.
Tron facepalms hard as even Arthur doffs his armor and decides to join the growing stable of fight happy morons in his boxers.
Gantz and Gil brush off concerns from Kai and Klonoa they should try to stop this and are all like "pass the popcorn".
Slyphie sees a chance to make a little money off this and starts playing ticket master for placing bets on the winners, and Rutee is all for that. Stahn would just like everyone to calm down, and Taizou just wants to nurse his drink in peace, but Masuyo makes us all wonder who was really the more immature one of hers and Taizou's former marriage as she's looking forward to blowing money on the odds.
Felicia tries in vain to get everyone to do something a bit more appropriate for a party, like dancing, and that's when Kanda Momo and MOMO do their respective transformations to do just that, and Felicia wants KOS-MOS to transform.
Shion says KOS-MOS doesn't have transforming capabilities, but in what has to be the most hilariously delayed brick joke ever, yes, she can:
That's right, KOS-MOS KEPT THE KITTY EARS SLYPHIE GAVE HER!
We then cut to Morrigan who is chilling next to Lilith and Demitri next to his throne, where she's very amused at the current mood, and the vampire's hand is leaving a permanent print on his face.
Regardless, he concedes to Morrigan that despite the stick up his ass and his titanic ego, they all helped save the damn universe, so he'd look like an ingrate if he didn't reward them all for all they done.
Morrigan tries to compliment him, but he brushes this off and turns serious as he asks Morrigan if she remembers the soul bees they saw, and they wonder if that means Jedah (from Darkstalkers 3) is going to be making a reappearance soon.
FYI, Project X Zone picked up this sequel hook and ran with it.
It's then Morrigan notices Reiji and Xiaomu slipped out to the balcony awhile ago, and that's when we cut to the balcony.
Xiaomu tries to make a little small talk at first, but Reiji loses interest and is about to head back inside, and that's when she gets all serious and says while she's glad he didn't try to suicide bomb 99, she wonders if he'll try it again if ever in the same situation.
He tries to brush it off as a job hazard, but she ain't buying that, and he concedes that's really no excuse, since his dad chose to end it like that, and it would be the same for him.
Reiji then wonders if everything up to this point was fated, but then says that still doesn't mean they know when it's their time to die, but then drops this bombshell on her:
As her mouth drops a little, he adds:
"We're a team....until the day WE die....."
It starts getting a little too serious for Xiaomu at this point, so she inserts some banter about taking care of him in his retirement years, and just as he's all "Very felicitous of you....", this happens:
She then points out cigs make kisses taste bad, and just as he's all surprised by her boldness, that's when the distance between them closes as we get a discreet fadeout.
Roll Credits.
.......And there you all have it, a complete Let's Sperg of every stage of Namco x Capcom, and while I plan to do at least one more post with general gameplay tips and other trivia I didn't cover that may be of interest, I'd like to thank the following for making this possible:
@Null, for being gracious enough to allow me to host this here.
@Jaimas and @AngeloTheWizard, whose own Let's Spergs inspired my own, and while I don't expect to measure up to their efforts, I at least hope I made a decent stab at it.
Everyone at the Kiwi Farms who enjoyed this and even non members who noticed this and stuck around to check it out, my thanks for your reading this.
And Namco and Capcom, despite having a tedious battle system set up for this otherwise enjoyable game, thanks for an otherwise fun crossover that set the stage for even better efforts.
This post is gonna cover the ending, and since there isn't a ton of new art here, it's gonna be a bit light on pictures.
Anyway, we resume as 99 just got the shit kicked out of it, and it can't accept it had Thanos level power post-Infinity Gauntlet and still got it's ass beat, and Reiji laughs in its dying face as both he and Xiaomu just empty their guns into its corpse and slash the damn thing until it flies apart and chunks of its corpse get splattered all over time and space, telling it that it was so pathetic it had to leech off Saya to get anything done, that's why it got it's ass kicked by those who fight side by side willingly.
This cuts Saya free of 99, and apparently, she's stuck in a twilight state between life and death (remember, she is in some ways still bound to Reiji as well) thanks to 99 using her a meat puppet for its own soul, and she asks Reiji to put a cap in her one last time, so she can finally leave this inbetween state she's in.
Xiaomu doesn't feel he needs to bother, but he apparently feels a little sorry for her now that he vented his rage and got past the demons of his late dad, so he decides to oblige her.
After telling her, not entirely unkindly, to "Go To Hell", he pulls the trigger.
The first Endless Frontier has Saya come back to life apparently no worse for wear, but there is a reason for that.
Ever since he was 'linked" to Saya and 99 by extension, that meant her soul was basically up in the air concerning her body, and when 99 was blasted to kingdom come, the only link her soul had to anyone was Reiji, so when Reiji popped a cap in her for the last time, he severed any final remaining links her soul had to any external source.
Except the Katanas, which, on top of serving as testbeds for the Tsukumogami, also served as backup bodies for Saya, and she basically hopped into one after this game and resumed her work for the Ouma.
Saya would basically be trying to find all the fragments of 99 splattered all over the universe for when the Ouma would try this plan again throughout the Endless Frontier games, and since she mostly came up dry then and circumstances dictated working with her old rivals was better than trying to kill them, she became a temporary ally by EF EXCEED
Project X Zone was essentially her eventually joining the good guy team because she and the Ouma were rivals with the villains of that game, and by Project X Zone 2, the Ouma were basically going for the Tsukumogami 3.0, only this time Saya's soul wasn't chained to it anymore, which means no more temporal paradox shenanigans would be pulled like in N x C to trick the good guys into helping the Ouma this time.
Ever since he was 'linked" to Saya and 99 by extension, that meant her soul was basically up in the air concerning her body, and when 99 was blasted to kingdom come, the only link her soul had to anyone was Reiji, so when Reiji popped a cap in her for the last time, he severed any final remaining links her soul had to any external source.
Except the Katanas, which, on top of serving as testbeds for the Tsukumogami, also served as backup bodies for Saya, and she basically hopped into one after this game and resumed her work for the Ouma.
Saya would basically be trying to find all the fragments of 99 splattered all over the universe for when the Ouma would try this plan again throughout the Endless Frontier games, and since she mostly came up dry then and circumstances dictated working with her old rivals was better than trying to kill them, she became a temporary ally by EF EXCEED
Project X Zone was essentially her eventually joining the good guy team because she and the Ouma were rivals with the villains of that game, and by Project X Zone 2, the Ouma were basically going for the Tsukumogami 3.0, only this time Saya's soul wasn't chained to it anymore, which means no more temporal paradox shenanigans would be pulled like in N x C to trick the good guys into helping the Ouma this time.
They don't have a lot of time to reflect on Saya's demise, though, since 99's death is now causing this clusterfuck of the worlds it tried to make to come unfurled back into it's proper shape once more, and Ishtar shows up in person to tell you all she needs to send you all back to your own worlds ASAP before that happens, or it's gonna be a pain to get this done after.
Andaba also shows up for the undead cast members for reasons that should be obvious, their battles are now over and so is their reason for remaining on this mortal coil.
With that, everyone has to give some abbreviated goodbyes, with Hiryuu brushing it all off as just another mission, Alpha and Beta are like "well, looks like it's back to the old routine", the Commando Team echoes the sentiment, and Sho and Guy exchange farewells, grateful they got a chance to use the skills of their mutual school of martial arts to purge evil from the worlds.
Tron's not all the comfy with the sappy stuff and just wants to leave, and her and Roll start bitching over her callousness. Taizou LOLs at this and is just proud he got a lot of adventure where he got to dig through some major problems checked off his bucket list, while Masuyo sarcastically snarks he might have had fun, but she's gonna have one hell of a report she'll have to file when she gets back.
Xiaomu sympathizes over having to answer to The Man, and Bruce tells them to relax, and Regina snarks about how America's armed forces are in trouble with a lazy guy like him in the ranks.
KOS-MOS then cuts this short by saying they really should keep this brief for safety reasons, and after Shion says a blanket farewell to Reiji and Xiaomu, thanking them for their meeting, all the future worlders go back to their own world.
Demitri has to be more of a spoilsport and just asks Ishtar to send him back to his castle already and Morrigan chides him for being an ass.
Stahn wants Leon to return to their world, but Leon points out he's already alive past his time, he must go to his reward now, but at least he can go to that reward knowing he was able to atone to Stahn and Rutee for all he had done and die as their friend.
Armor King feels the same way, and King II promises to bring honor to the title of King.
With that, Andaba promises she'll pay their fare across the River Styx for free this time once they are done, in honor of their valor as warriors who saved the universe.
Tarosuke is actually a little sad to see Kagekiyo go, and Kagekiyo actually calls him by name for once and tells Tarosuke he was proud to have fought by his side.
And with that, Rose promises that if they are allowed, they will return, and then Andaba takes everyone from the underworld back to their respective homes.
The Soul Calibur cast then say their farewells, and Wayahime tells Taki she'll keep the memories of their time together forever, and then they go back to their own time.
That just leaves everyone from the Fantasy world, who wonder what will happen to the screwed up snarls in the worlds like the one they are in, and Ishtar says they'll sort themselves out, so don't worry.
Rutee is happy at least she won;t have to clean it all up, she gets called on being self centered, and Gantz is just happy he had fun and killed the asshole who murdered his father.
Klonoa and Valkyrie give their goodbyes, and everyone from the Fantasy World returns to their realm.
That just leaves everyone from the Material World, who are all like "after all that, a break sounds nice", save Heihachi, who tries to troll Jin into a fight, but Jin doesn't take the bait, telling his grandpa he'll still have another chance to get the Devil Gene, just not today, he's not in the mood.
Heihachi quietly admits to himself he's a bit proud how his grandson grew up a little, and Ishtar takes requests for being sent home from the various cast members, prompting Xioamu to complain it's a bit crass to treat a GODDESS like a taxi driver.
Ishtar is cool with it though, figures it's only fair enough given all the crap they just went through, and then the remaining warriors are sent back to their own times and places.
Cue time skip.
We cut to Metro City, where Ken and Ryu get handed invitations from someone by Chun-li and Cammy, as did everyone else they know.
An invitation to Demitri's Castle to be exact, who is apparently throwing a party, where everyone who got a letter is invited.
We then cut to Hideo and Kyoko's school, where Karin is handing out invitations to them and Sakura.
We cut to the Namco Theater, where Felicia and Wonder Momo get to finally perform together, and after the show, King and Nakamura remark on it and how Amazona is back and apparently remembers nothing of her time as a demonic servant. Nakamura then wonders if Black Bravo (aka Tajima) is still around, and Wayahime shows up to confirm, yep, he's still around, and the both of them confirm they got invitations, and Nakamura was going to give Momo hers soon.
We then cut to the Spencer Lane, where Fong Ling is face palming at the deja vu, as is Regina, but Bruce is like "well, I'm just here to hand you guys these invitations I got", and Hsien-ko is surprised at Demitri for being so nice.
We also get confirmation Bruce has two more invites to hand Jin and Heihachi, and we also find out Heihachi wanted the T-Virus awhile back, and handing an invite to a guy Bruce would otherwise slap cuffs on if that had gone through is a bit awkward.
We then cut to the River Styx, where Kagekiyo is surprised to have his eternal rest interrupted, but Andaba tells him no, the Genji are still dead, you just got woke up for a brief party, and you've been granted temporary living rights to enjoy it by special dispensation of Enma. Rose and Armor King got this too, as did Judas, and Kagekiyo is all "Uhhhhhh.....okay."
We then cut to a bamboo grove, where Taki and Mitsurugi are bitching at each other over the Soul Edge AGAIN, but Tarosuke shows up and hands them invites, killing the tense mood, and the both of them decide to put their little fracas on hold until they look into this invite.
We cut back to the ruins of Druaga's Tower, where Rutee is again bitching about Gil being late like in their prolouge stage, only this time it's Arthur who is late, and Stahn comments on the deja vu, and Arthur finally shows up, and, in what he finds no small irony, hands them invites to party in a castle in Hell.
We then cut to the Temple of the Heavens, where Lolo, Gilgamesh and Kai hand Klonoa and Gantz their invites.
At Ishtar's temple, Valkyrie shows up, all super serious, but Ishtar tells her "lol, calm down, I just wanted to hand you a party invite", and asks her to hand two others to Kurino and Sabine.
We then cut to the cruiser Elza, where Shion is doing a check-up on KOS-MOS, and Shion complains to MOMO that all the fights KOS-MOS went through forced her to have to re-adjust all of her joints due to all the stress on her mainframe.
Allen Marks shows up for the second and final time, just long enough to tell Shion the Commando Team is paying a social call, and hands her an invite letter, and she has no clue what the hell is going on.
We cut to the Flutter, where Taizou is getting dropped off by Mega and Roll, at the same ruins they were checking out before the whole merging of the worlds crap, and Taizou muses the kind of exploring he's been doing lately is a lot less like digging and more like drilling lately (Nice Mr. Driller reference Namco), prompting Masuyo to show up via radio and snarkily call him Mr. Driller (a title their son would actually hold), and it seems she and Hiromi got a ride with Tron's ship so they could hand out some invites they got.
We then cut to Slyphie's shop, and when Alpha and Beta show up, she's like "okay, what do you need to buy this time", and after a little BSing she hands them an invite. Hiryuu pops in a little while later to pick an order for an energy pack, and she hands him an invite too.
We then cut to Demitri's palace, where a party is in full swing, and Bruce sardonically comments on the irony of having a party in Hell, to which Alpha has this retort:
Regina wonders if it's bad the worlds are connected like this again (despite this being on a very small, controlled scale), but Valkyrie tells them to chill, Ishtar personally worked on making this stable herself.
Meanwhile, Heihachi and Jin are about to resume beating the crap out of each other, but Ryu kills the mood by saying he wants to challenge Jin first (NOTE, all future crossover games of Namco and Capcom would use N x C as the precedent for future throwdowns like this)
Strangely, Guy is like "oh, when in Rome" and wants to join the melee, prompting Sho to be all "WUT?"
The Captain tries to call them to order, but Karin tells him he's likely wasting his time, and besides, she could use the entertainment, a sentiment even Mitsurugi is down with.
Even Hideo wants to join in, prompting Kyoko to facepalm, and even Haggar wants to join in, and while he cuts a manly figure in a suit, it's kinda weird at the same time:
He then sheds the suit jacket and even King is down for this, with Armor King up for a little tag action.
Mega and Roll are just staring, wondering what the heck got into everyone, while even Chun-li is getting all hotblooded.
Tron facepalms hard as even Arthur doffs his armor and decides to join the growing stable of fight happy morons in his boxers.
Gantz and Gil brush off concerns from Kai and Klonoa they should try to stop this and are all like "pass the popcorn".
Slyphie sees a chance to make a little money off this and starts playing ticket master for placing bets on the winners, and Rutee is all for that. Stahn would just like everyone to calm down, and Taizou just wants to nurse his drink in peace, but Masuyo makes us all wonder who was really the more immature one of hers and Taizou's former marriage as she's looking forward to blowing money on the odds.
Felicia tries in vain to get everyone to do something a bit more appropriate for a party, like dancing, and that's when Kanda Momo and MOMO do their respective transformations to do just that, and Felicia wants KOS-MOS to transform.
Shion says KOS-MOS doesn't have transforming capabilities, but in what has to be the most hilariously delayed brick joke ever, yes, she can:
That's right, KOS-MOS KEPT THE KITTY EARS SLYPHIE GAVE HER!
We then cut to Morrigan who is chilling next to Lilith and Demitri next to his throne, where she's very amused at the current mood, and the vampire's hand is leaving a permanent print on his face.
Regardless, he concedes to Morrigan that despite the stick up his ass and his titanic ego, they all helped save the damn universe, so he'd look like an ingrate if he didn't reward them all for all they done.
Morrigan tries to compliment him, but he brushes this off and turns serious as he asks Morrigan if she remembers the soul bees they saw, and they wonder if that means Jedah (from Darkstalkers 3) is going to be making a reappearance soon.
FYI, Project X Zone picked up this sequel hook and ran with it.
It's then Morrigan notices Reiji and Xiaomu slipped out to the balcony awhile ago, and that's when we cut to the balcony.
Xiaomu tries to make a little small talk at first, but Reiji loses interest and is about to head back inside, and that's when she gets all serious and says while she's glad he didn't try to suicide bomb 99, she wonders if he'll try it again if ever in the same situation.
He tries to brush it off as a job hazard, but she ain't buying that, and he concedes that's really no excuse, since his dad chose to end it like that, and it would be the same for him.
Reiji then wonders if everything up to this point was fated, but then says that still doesn't mean they know when it's their time to die, but then drops this bombshell on her:
As her mouth drops a little, he adds:
"We're a team....until the day WE die....."
It starts getting a little too serious for Xiaomu at this point, so she inserts some banter about taking care of him in his retirement years, and just as he's all "Very felicitous of you....", this happens:
She then points out cigs make kisses taste bad, and just as he's all surprised by her boldness, that's when the distance between them closes as we get a discreet fadeout.
Roll Credits.
.......And there you all have it, a complete Let's Sperg of every stage of Namco x Capcom, and while I plan to do at least one more post with general gameplay tips and other trivia I didn't cover that may be of interest, I'd like to thank the following for making this possible:
@Null, for being gracious enough to allow me to host this here.
@Jaimas and @AngeloTheWizard, whose own Let's Spergs inspired my own, and while I don't expect to measure up to their efforts, I at least hope I made a decent stab at it.
Everyone at the Kiwi Farms who enjoyed this and even non members who noticed this and stuck around to check it out, my thanks for your reading this.
And Namco and Capcom, despite having a tedious battle system set up for this otherwise enjoyable game, thanks for an otherwise fun crossover that set the stage for even better efforts.
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Appendix: The Do and Doughnuts of Kicking Ass in Namco x Capcom
The game itself contains pretty good tutorials on the basics of actual gameplay, so we won't be covering that. However, we WILL be covering all the characters and how effective they are, and how to best use them.
They will be given two letter ranks, one for their early game usage, and for one for their late game usage, as they all improve massively by endgame.
General tips and strategy will be given for using the characters for maximum asskicking potential as well.
With the exception of Saya, who was included in the following image just to round it out and is obviously unplayable, I will cover the characters in order as depicted, following each row from left to right.
1. Ryu (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A+
Ryu is pretty useful off the bat, generally being able to combo enemies pretty well since day one and has more range to his long distance Hadoken spam than Ken from the start. His only weakness is that he's slightly less powerful than Ken early on.
By late game, especially after the "Evil Ryu" arc concludes, he closes the distance with Ken in most regimes and his combos get even better, though Ken will always deal more raw damage on average.
His spell pool is decent but nothing amazing, but it will give him decent support and healing buffs.
2. Ken Masters (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Ken actually starts off somewhat more useful than Ryu because he does more raw damage and has a cheaper and even better spell pool. Ryu still has the edge in combos and long distance attacks, but Ken is a great boss killer due to his tendency to deal tons of damage with his flaming shoryuken.
By late game, his Hadoken game is about early game Ryu useful, but he has no other major improvements, not that he really needs them.
His spell pool is great for killing bosses and is quite cheap to spam as well.
3. Sakura Kasugano and Karin Kanzuki (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early on, Sakura will be your primary damage dealer and combo spammer, and Karin will be pretty crap for this purpose.
Karin becomes even better than Sakura by late game in those areas, but Sakura will always have a slight edge in doling out critical hits.
Their spell pool is a tad pricey but is a support mage's wet dream, able to cripple enemies while buffing them, complete with a free turn spell.
4. Megaman Volnutt and Roll Caskett (Megaman Legends)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early on, Mega is gonna be pulling most of the weight for this team, though all the good support spell that make Mega a one man ass kicking machine will always come from Roll, including a free turn spell.
Late game has Roll add a ton of pain to Mega's attacks, the Crash Bomb attack being surprisingly damaging to many bosses.
They are constantly crippled by being long distance attack only fighters, but in that role they will serve you well.
4. Demitri (Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Demitri will always be one of your strongest fighters, even from the start.
All the late game does is make his combo game better, and he's one of the few characters who can be as many as ten levels lower than some bosses and still be able to go toe to toe with them, that's how powerful he is.
His spell pool is all about buffing himself to do more damage, is cheap, and very spammable.
5. Judas (Tales of Destiny 2)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: B+
Since you get Judas pretty late, not a lot changes aside from a slight change in his attack timing at most, but if you can get used to the slightly odd timing of his combos, he can do respectable damage at worst.
His spell pool is a mix of everything, and if you slap some Mp Regen and Mp cost down items on him, he can make a very excellent support mage.
5. Stahn and Rutee (Tales of Destiny)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Stahn and Rutee aren't too bad when they start out, but they kinda blow in terms of being raw damage dealers, mostly because their attacks are of the "death of a thousand cuts" type. Still, even early on, they are great at comboing.
Late game kicks this into overdrive, and they get surprisingly useful against some bosses no other characters can scratch half as well. The combo spam also gets so intense Rutee's Braid Rose attack can net her up to three additional combos if properly timed.
Their spell pool is firmly in support mage territory, but they have a high MP pool, the spell prices are decent, and their "Acid Rain" spell can make several bosses far less painful.
6. Wonder Momo and Bravoman (Wonder Momo and Bravoman)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game users of these two will probably find Bravoman is slightly more useful for combo chaining while Momo is better at damage dealing.
Late game shifts it to where Momo will be best at both, and her "Wonder Typhoon" is an easily spammable damage and combo dealer.
Their spell pool is a bit pricy, but they have a free turn spell usable on anyone, so so they make good support mages, though can also double as enemy crippler mages as well.
7. Wayahime and Taki (Bravoman and Soul Calibur)
Early Game Rank: B-
Late Game Rank: A
Early game is just Taki alone, and while she's a decent support mage, her damage/comboing is ho-hum and her defense is a tad poor.
Late game pairs her with Wayahime, and not only does her damage/combing improve, the two of them get a much better super attack than Taki had by herself.
Their spell set is expensive but good at enemy crippling and free turn spamming.
7. Heishirou Mitsurugi (Soul Calibur)
Early Game Rank: C
Late Game Rank: B
Mitsurugi is the worst at doing combos in the game, no question. Regardless, he still does an amazing amount of raw damage and serves as a great tank even very early on.
Late game files off some of the worst parts of his combo game, but that's about it.
He does have a very cheap Demitri style spell set though.
8. KOS-MOS (Xenosaga I)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
KOS-MOS is the most game breakery character you can get, and you get her from the very start. Early game she will do an obscene amount of damage, has great combos, and has no less than four very useful
spells that make bosses a LOT easier to kill.
Late game just makes her even better, adding a free turn spell and 5% MP regeneration per hit she lands, and since she can always land a ton, she has little danger of ever depleting her mile high MP pool.
9. Shion Uzuki and M.O.M.O (Xenosaga I)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
These two characters are mage based from the very start, making great healers, have a great long range attack, and Shion has some decent close range status attacks as well. They are crippled by low HP, defense, and raw damage though.
Late game obviates some of these weaknesses, and Shion's "Queen's Kiss" ability can be awesome in the right situations, as she can drain MP from enemies with HIGH MP pools and refill her own, and that means she can heal everyone on the battlefield ad infinitum depending on how many MP pinatas are around, and there are many in the late game.
10. Fong Ling and Hsien-ko (Resident Evil: Dead Aim and Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early on, Fong Ling will be slightly more useful, as her grenade spam can really lay on the damage to many enemies.
Late game, Hsien-ko does more damage, and her gong attack alone can do an amazing amount of combo hits.
Their spell set is most supportive and while decent cost for the most part, is not all that impressive, but they do get a free turn spam spell later on.
11. Captain Commando (Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
The Captain is one of those game breaker characters that starts awesome really early on, does nice combos, and hits HARD.
Late game just makes him better at all the above.
His spell pool is awesome support mage stuff, but very pricey, his only real flaw, but they include free turn spamming spells.
12. Mack The Knife and Baby (Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
Mack and Baby start off at good comboers but their damage cap isn't quite a good as the Captain's early on.
They get slightly better at that late game, and their comboing just gets borderline awesome insane good.
Their spell pool is small, but include a free turn spell and some self healing, and that's all they really need.
13. Guy and Sho (Final Fight and Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two are undisputed masters of doing tons of hits that chain right out the gate, and while their spell pool is small, it's enough to buff them in all the right areas, and they get a free turn spam spell too.
Late game they can chain even MORE hits together, and with a proper setup these guys can pull TWO super attacks on the SAME turn.
14. Sir Arthur (Ghost and Goblins)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Arthur early game is not all that bad, especially at long range, but his attacks don't chain very well, though they do decent damage overall. He can attack at short range, but he really sucks at it.
Late game buffs his best long range attacks to do multiple hits per shot, and his combos and damage shoot through the roof.
His spell pool is small, but good for attacking buffing and very cheap.
15. Gilgamesh and Kai (The Tower of Druaga)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
These two play totally different, with Kai being the long range, Gil short range, but even early game neither is bad at both, though Kai is a swiss army knife of elemental magic for any occasion, while Gil
only has a fire attack that is good for that.
Late game makes Kai even more deadly and combo useful, and Gil's attacks get downright obscene damage wise against foes vulnerable to them.
Their spell pool is small but slightly pricey, but covers support buffing and healing quite well.
16. Regina and Bruce McGivern (Dino Crisis 2 and Resident Evil
ead Aim)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
These two early game are basically the same as Arthur. Sucky at short range but awesome at long range.
Late game just makes them really good at dealing damage, and their super attack improves dramatically.
Their spell pool is decent, reasonably cheap, and focuses on enemy crippling and attack buffs.
16. Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game, they will be your best characters, and each is a swiss army knife of attacks for any occasion at both short and long range.
Late game they get even better, do obscene combos and damage, and you'd be an idiot to not keep them front and center in every battle.
Their spell pool is geared for attack buffs and turn spam, though Xiaomu's MP drain spell has the issue of inducing enemy knockback, so use it against foes who are pinned down in a corner or against other characters if possible.
17. Rose ( Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: A+
Late Game Rank: A+
You get Rose kinda late, so there is little difference between late and early game aside from a minor change in a few attacks to do more damage, but she's pretty effective against a lot of bosses, but aside from Soul Reflect her combo game is pretty crap.
But the reason she gets A+ from the start would be because she's the BEST support mage in the game. She's loaded down with all sorts of useful stuff, including free turn spam and cheap MP draining. Marry that to having mile high MP, and she can spam free turns to everyone in every battle, and that alone makes her worth her weight in gold.
18. Strider Hiryuu (Strider)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Strider doesn't change attackwise between early and late game, but he really doesn't need to, he's got a full kit of awesome stuff out the gate, including a free poison inducing attack.
Late game, however, is when he's doling out critical hits like no tomorrow and his super attack does some insane damage to basically every boss.
He has pretty high MP, and his spell pool is designed to make his asskicking skills better, including free turn spamming.
19. Tarosuke and Taira no Kagekiyo (Shadowland and Genpa Toumaden)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game players will likely get more use out of Tarosuke than Kagekiyo, as the former's Momotaro tends to be good against basically everyone and does great damage and combos well.
Late game, though, and Kagekiyo becomes just as viable, even outclassing Tarosuke in damage in many areas.
However, both make outstanding enemy crippling mages, and late game, they even get a cheap MP draining spell as well
20. Mike Haggar (Final Fight)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Haggar starts off the same at Mitsurugi, except he's much better at combos.
Late game, though, and his critical hit rate takes a massive upswing as well.
His spell pool is limited, mostly self support, but it's all he really needs, and it's fairly cheap.
21. Armor King (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A
You get him kinda late, so his attacks really don't change, but since he's like the best of King and Heihachi in one package, they don't need to.
His real benefit, though, is having the same skill KOS-MOS has for MP recovery plus a free turn spam spell, so you can have him give someone a free turn, then have him attack someone to recover the MP to do it over and over again.
He has other support spells, but his limited MP supply means the above trick is ideal use of it.
22. Felicia and King II (Darkstalkers and Tekken)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
These two fall into two niches, Felicia handles the combos, and King II does all the raw damage. Early on, they are good but not outstanding at both.
Late game is when they both improve somewhat, but their real contributions are be excellent support mages, and they have a nice spell list for this.
32. Hideo Shimazu and Kyoko Minazuki (Rival Schools)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
Early game, these two are basically a discount version of Rose, except Kyoko is much better at combos and Hideo does the raw damage.
Late game both get even better in their respective niche, but neither reaches the game breaker tier level, though they remain respectable second string fighter.
Their spell set is pure support spells, and while limited, they are all useful spells for this.
33. Jin Kazama (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Jin is a pretty good even early on as a fighter, he just lacks the ability to consistently string together long combos with his better moves.
Late game finally lets him do this, and he turns into a one man ass kicking machine.
His spell set is cheap but purely focused on buffing his attacks, which is all he actually needs.
34. Heihachi Mishima (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Heihachi is initially a better version of Jin when you get him, and is similar in many ways, but he just can string together combos better.
Late game just polishes him further to where you could use either as an asskicker.
Like Jin, his spell set is purely for making him kick ass better and is pretty cheap.
35. Unknown Warriors AKA Alpha/Beta (Forgotten Worlds)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game, these two are quite good at stringing together combos, but kinda suck at raw damage, though they tend to be great at chaining combos together, which can get them more combos to chain.
Late game replaces all their shitty moves with awesome ones that do great damage and chain well, so by end game they will be the masters of ranged warfare.
They are purely long range only, and their spell pool is limited to buffing themselves though.
35. Slyphie (Forgotten Worlds)
Early Game Rank: A+
Late Game Rank: A+
Slyphie is just broken. Even early game she can chain combos like crazy, has a swiss army knife level utility against damn near anything, and has MP regen per hit like KOS-MOS on top of having an ideal support/healer spell set, and she only gets better with time.
The game makes her a temporary character until very late because of this, but she's still awesome regardless.
36. Chun-li and Cammy White (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game is just Chun-li by herself, and while she's not bad and good at chaining combos, she lacks some raw power.
Late game, when Cammy is added to the team, that flips around and Chun-li really does live up her "Strongest Woman in the World" billing.
Their spell pool is pure attack buffs, and includes a pricey free turn spam spell as well.
37. Hiromi Tenguji and Toby Masuyo (Burning Force and Baraduke)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game, they are good at ranged attack, especially Masuyo, but Hiromi honestly kinda sucks raw damage, but can combo to a degree.
Late game makes Masuyo do lots of raw damage, while Hiromi shaves off some of her rougher edges.
Their spell pool is limited to buffing themselves, but that's more than enough.
38. Taizou Horii (Dig Dug)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Taizou even early on isn't outstanding on combo chaining, but he can do lots of raw damage right out the gate.
His movesets doesn't change much by late game, he just gets better at doling out raw damage, and he gets critical hits like crazy to compensate for his bad combo potential.
His only bad point is a so-so spell pool with only one or two really useful spells.
39. Gantz and Klonoa (Klonoa)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two fill two separate niches: Gantz for long range, Klonoa for short range. They are also the only team to have super attacks for both characters.
Early and late game they are pretty good, but any bad points about their damage or comboing are shaved off by game midpoint.
Their spell pool is pure self buffing, but it's all they really need.
40. ServBot and Tron Bonne (Megaman Legends)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game has these two being decent ranged damage dealers (they have no short range at all), but their combo chaining sucks.
Late game makes them good at both.
Their spell pool though, is kind bad, most of the skills being niche use at best.
41. Morrigan and Lilith (Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game is just Morrigan by herself, and she's a one woman army.
By late game Lilith joins up, and thus they are nerfed by Morrigan's best move being replaced by Lilith's, which is slightly weaker. On the other hand, you gain a pretty cheap free turn spell you can spam, and coupled with Morrigan's MP drain spell, makes them the second best support mage team next to Rose.
42. Sabine and Kurino (The Legend of Valkryie)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two are the swiss army knife of asskicking. Sabine has a poison dealing attack that is great for combos, while Kurino is good at both combos and raw damage.
Late game just makes them better at what they already do well.
Their spell pool is kind crap though.
43. Valkyrie (The Legend of Valkryie)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Valkyrie early game is basically a more raw damage oriented version of Kurino and Sabine.
Late game will still have her edge them out in this regard.
Her spell pool is somewhat better though, and while it's limited, she makes a good support mage.
....And that's all folks. Now you know how to use the cast to kick ass.
As a bonus, here's some hilarious chibi fanart of the whole cast:
The game itself contains pretty good tutorials on the basics of actual gameplay, so we won't be covering that. However, we WILL be covering all the characters and how effective they are, and how to best use them.
They will be given two letter ranks, one for their early game usage, and for one for their late game usage, as they all improve massively by endgame.
General tips and strategy will be given for using the characters for maximum asskicking potential as well.
With the exception of Saya, who was included in the following image just to round it out and is obviously unplayable, I will cover the characters in order as depicted, following each row from left to right.
1. Ryu (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A+
Ryu is pretty useful off the bat, generally being able to combo enemies pretty well since day one and has more range to his long distance Hadoken spam than Ken from the start. His only weakness is that he's slightly less powerful than Ken early on.
By late game, especially after the "Evil Ryu" arc concludes, he closes the distance with Ken in most regimes and his combos get even better, though Ken will always deal more raw damage on average.
His spell pool is decent but nothing amazing, but it will give him decent support and healing buffs.
2. Ken Masters (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Ken actually starts off somewhat more useful than Ryu because he does more raw damage and has a cheaper and even better spell pool. Ryu still has the edge in combos and long distance attacks, but Ken is a great boss killer due to his tendency to deal tons of damage with his flaming shoryuken.
By late game, his Hadoken game is about early game Ryu useful, but he has no other major improvements, not that he really needs them.
His spell pool is great for killing bosses and is quite cheap to spam as well.
3. Sakura Kasugano and Karin Kanzuki (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early on, Sakura will be your primary damage dealer and combo spammer, and Karin will be pretty crap for this purpose.
Karin becomes even better than Sakura by late game in those areas, but Sakura will always have a slight edge in doling out critical hits.
Their spell pool is a tad pricey but is a support mage's wet dream, able to cripple enemies while buffing them, complete with a free turn spell.
4. Megaman Volnutt and Roll Caskett (Megaman Legends)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early on, Mega is gonna be pulling most of the weight for this team, though all the good support spell that make Mega a one man ass kicking machine will always come from Roll, including a free turn spell.
Late game has Roll add a ton of pain to Mega's attacks, the Crash Bomb attack being surprisingly damaging to many bosses.
They are constantly crippled by being long distance attack only fighters, but in that role they will serve you well.
4. Demitri (Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Demitri will always be one of your strongest fighters, even from the start.
All the late game does is make his combo game better, and he's one of the few characters who can be as many as ten levels lower than some bosses and still be able to go toe to toe with them, that's how powerful he is.
His spell pool is all about buffing himself to do more damage, is cheap, and very spammable.
5. Judas (Tales of Destiny 2)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: B+
Since you get Judas pretty late, not a lot changes aside from a slight change in his attack timing at most, but if you can get used to the slightly odd timing of his combos, he can do respectable damage at worst.
His spell pool is a mix of everything, and if you slap some Mp Regen and Mp cost down items on him, he can make a very excellent support mage.
5. Stahn and Rutee (Tales of Destiny)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Stahn and Rutee aren't too bad when they start out, but they kinda blow in terms of being raw damage dealers, mostly because their attacks are of the "death of a thousand cuts" type. Still, even early on, they are great at comboing.
Late game kicks this into overdrive, and they get surprisingly useful against some bosses no other characters can scratch half as well. The combo spam also gets so intense Rutee's Braid Rose attack can net her up to three additional combos if properly timed.
Their spell pool is firmly in support mage territory, but they have a high MP pool, the spell prices are decent, and their "Acid Rain" spell can make several bosses far less painful.
6. Wonder Momo and Bravoman (Wonder Momo and Bravoman)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game users of these two will probably find Bravoman is slightly more useful for combo chaining while Momo is better at damage dealing.
Late game shifts it to where Momo will be best at both, and her "Wonder Typhoon" is an easily spammable damage and combo dealer.
Their spell pool is a bit pricy, but they have a free turn spell usable on anyone, so so they make good support mages, though can also double as enemy crippler mages as well.
7. Wayahime and Taki (Bravoman and Soul Calibur)
Early Game Rank: B-
Late Game Rank: A
Early game is just Taki alone, and while she's a decent support mage, her damage/comboing is ho-hum and her defense is a tad poor.
Late game pairs her with Wayahime, and not only does her damage/combing improve, the two of them get a much better super attack than Taki had by herself.
Their spell set is expensive but good at enemy crippling and free turn spamming.
7. Heishirou Mitsurugi (Soul Calibur)
Early Game Rank: C
Late Game Rank: B
Mitsurugi is the worst at doing combos in the game, no question. Regardless, he still does an amazing amount of raw damage and serves as a great tank even very early on.
Late game files off some of the worst parts of his combo game, but that's about it.
He does have a very cheap Demitri style spell set though.
8. KOS-MOS (Xenosaga I)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
KOS-MOS is the most game breakery character you can get, and you get her from the very start. Early game she will do an obscene amount of damage, has great combos, and has no less than four very useful
spells that make bosses a LOT easier to kill.
Late game just makes her even better, adding a free turn spell and 5% MP regeneration per hit she lands, and since she can always land a ton, she has little danger of ever depleting her mile high MP pool.
9. Shion Uzuki and M.O.M.O (Xenosaga I)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
These two characters are mage based from the very start, making great healers, have a great long range attack, and Shion has some decent close range status attacks as well. They are crippled by low HP, defense, and raw damage though.
Late game obviates some of these weaknesses, and Shion's "Queen's Kiss" ability can be awesome in the right situations, as she can drain MP from enemies with HIGH MP pools and refill her own, and that means she can heal everyone on the battlefield ad infinitum depending on how many MP pinatas are around, and there are many in the late game.
10. Fong Ling and Hsien-ko (Resident Evil: Dead Aim and Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early on, Fong Ling will be slightly more useful, as her grenade spam can really lay on the damage to many enemies.
Late game, Hsien-ko does more damage, and her gong attack alone can do an amazing amount of combo hits.
Their spell set is most supportive and while decent cost for the most part, is not all that impressive, but they do get a free turn spam spell later on.
11. Captain Commando (Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
The Captain is one of those game breaker characters that starts awesome really early on, does nice combos, and hits HARD.
Late game just makes him better at all the above.
His spell pool is awesome support mage stuff, but very pricey, his only real flaw, but they include free turn spamming spells.
12. Mack The Knife and Baby (Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
Mack and Baby start off at good comboers but their damage cap isn't quite a good as the Captain's early on.
They get slightly better at that late game, and their comboing just gets borderline awesome insane good.
Their spell pool is small, but include a free turn spell and some self healing, and that's all they really need.
13. Guy and Sho (Final Fight and Captain Commando)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two are undisputed masters of doing tons of hits that chain right out the gate, and while their spell pool is small, it's enough to buff them in all the right areas, and they get a free turn spam spell too.
Late game they can chain even MORE hits together, and with a proper setup these guys can pull TWO super attacks on the SAME turn.
14. Sir Arthur (Ghost and Goblins)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Arthur early game is not all that bad, especially at long range, but his attacks don't chain very well, though they do decent damage overall. He can attack at short range, but he really sucks at it.
Late game buffs his best long range attacks to do multiple hits per shot, and his combos and damage shoot through the roof.
His spell pool is small, but good for attacking buffing and very cheap.
15. Gilgamesh and Kai (The Tower of Druaga)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
These two play totally different, with Kai being the long range, Gil short range, but even early game neither is bad at both, though Kai is a swiss army knife of elemental magic for any occasion, while Gil
only has a fire attack that is good for that.
Late game makes Kai even more deadly and combo useful, and Gil's attacks get downright obscene damage wise against foes vulnerable to them.
Their spell pool is small but slightly pricey, but covers support buffing and healing quite well.
16. Regina and Bruce McGivern (Dino Crisis 2 and Resident Evil
ead Aim)Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
These two early game are basically the same as Arthur. Sucky at short range but awesome at long range.
Late game just makes them really good at dealing damage, and their super attack improves dramatically.
Their spell pool is decent, reasonably cheap, and focuses on enemy crippling and attack buffs.
16. Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game, they will be your best characters, and each is a swiss army knife of attacks for any occasion at both short and long range.
Late game they get even better, do obscene combos and damage, and you'd be an idiot to not keep them front and center in every battle.
Their spell pool is geared for attack buffs and turn spam, though Xiaomu's MP drain spell has the issue of inducing enemy knockback, so use it against foes who are pinned down in a corner or against other characters if possible.
17. Rose ( Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: A+
Late Game Rank: A+
You get Rose kinda late, so there is little difference between late and early game aside from a minor change in a few attacks to do more damage, but she's pretty effective against a lot of bosses, but aside from Soul Reflect her combo game is pretty crap.
But the reason she gets A+ from the start would be because she's the BEST support mage in the game. She's loaded down with all sorts of useful stuff, including free turn spam and cheap MP draining. Marry that to having mile high MP, and she can spam free turns to everyone in every battle, and that alone makes her worth her weight in gold.
18. Strider Hiryuu (Strider)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Strider doesn't change attackwise between early and late game, but he really doesn't need to, he's got a full kit of awesome stuff out the gate, including a free poison inducing attack.
Late game, however, is when he's doling out critical hits like no tomorrow and his super attack does some insane damage to basically every boss.
He has pretty high MP, and his spell pool is designed to make his asskicking skills better, including free turn spamming.
19. Tarosuke and Taira no Kagekiyo (Shadowland and Genpa Toumaden)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game players will likely get more use out of Tarosuke than Kagekiyo, as the former's Momotaro tends to be good against basically everyone and does great damage and combos well.
Late game, though, and Kagekiyo becomes just as viable, even outclassing Tarosuke in damage in many areas.
However, both make outstanding enemy crippling mages, and late game, they even get a cheap MP draining spell as well
20. Mike Haggar (Final Fight)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Haggar starts off the same at Mitsurugi, except he's much better at combos.
Late game, though, and his critical hit rate takes a massive upswing as well.
His spell pool is limited, mostly self support, but it's all he really needs, and it's fairly cheap.
21. Armor King (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A
You get him kinda late, so his attacks really don't change, but since he's like the best of King and Heihachi in one package, they don't need to.
His real benefit, though, is having the same skill KOS-MOS has for MP recovery plus a free turn spam spell, so you can have him give someone a free turn, then have him attack someone to recover the MP to do it over and over again.
He has other support spells, but his limited MP supply means the above trick is ideal use of it.
22. Felicia and King II (Darkstalkers and Tekken)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
These two fall into two niches, Felicia handles the combos, and King II does all the raw damage. Early on, they are good but not outstanding at both.
Late game is when they both improve somewhat, but their real contributions are be excellent support mages, and they have a nice spell list for this.
32. Hideo Shimazu and Kyoko Minazuki (Rival Schools)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A
Early game, these two are basically a discount version of Rose, except Kyoko is much better at combos and Hideo does the raw damage.
Late game both get even better in their respective niche, but neither reaches the game breaker tier level, though they remain respectable second string fighter.
Their spell set is pure support spells, and while limited, they are all useful spells for this.
33. Jin Kazama (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Jin is a pretty good even early on as a fighter, he just lacks the ability to consistently string together long combos with his better moves.
Late game finally lets him do this, and he turns into a one man ass kicking machine.
His spell set is cheap but purely focused on buffing his attacks, which is all he actually needs.
34. Heihachi Mishima (Tekken)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Heihachi is initially a better version of Jin when you get him, and is similar in many ways, but he just can string together combos better.
Late game just polishes him further to where you could use either as an asskicker.
Like Jin, his spell set is purely for making him kick ass better and is pretty cheap.
35. Unknown Warriors AKA Alpha/Beta (Forgotten Worlds)
Early Game Rank: B+
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game, these two are quite good at stringing together combos, but kinda suck at raw damage, though they tend to be great at chaining combos together, which can get them more combos to chain.
Late game replaces all their shitty moves with awesome ones that do great damage and chain well, so by end game they will be the masters of ranged warfare.
They are purely long range only, and their spell pool is limited to buffing themselves though.
35. Slyphie (Forgotten Worlds)
Early Game Rank: A+
Late Game Rank: A+
Slyphie is just broken. Even early game she can chain combos like crazy, has a swiss army knife level utility against damn near anything, and has MP regen per hit like KOS-MOS on top of having an ideal support/healer spell set, and she only gets better with time.
The game makes her a temporary character until very late because of this, but she's still awesome regardless.
36. Chun-li and Cammy White (Street Fighter Alpha 3)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game is just Chun-li by herself, and while she's not bad and good at chaining combos, she lacks some raw power.
Late game, when Cammy is added to the team, that flips around and Chun-li really does live up her "Strongest Woman in the World" billing.
Their spell pool is pure attack buffs, and includes a pricey free turn spam spell as well.
37. Hiromi Tenguji and Toby Masuyo (Burning Force and Baraduke)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game, they are good at ranged attack, especially Masuyo, but Hiromi honestly kinda sucks raw damage, but can combo to a degree.
Late game makes Masuyo do lots of raw damage, while Hiromi shaves off some of her rougher edges.
Their spell pool is limited to buffing themselves, but that's more than enough.
38. Taizou Horii (Dig Dug)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Taizou even early on isn't outstanding on combo chaining, but he can do lots of raw damage right out the gate.
His movesets doesn't change much by late game, he just gets better at doling out raw damage, and he gets critical hits like crazy to compensate for his bad combo potential.
His only bad point is a so-so spell pool with only one or two really useful spells.
39. Gantz and Klonoa (Klonoa)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two fill two separate niches: Gantz for long range, Klonoa for short range. They are also the only team to have super attacks for both characters.
Early and late game they are pretty good, but any bad points about their damage or comboing are shaved off by game midpoint.
Their spell pool is pure self buffing, but it's all they really need.
40. ServBot and Tron Bonne (Megaman Legends)
Early Game Rank: B
Late Game Rank: A
Early game has these two being decent ranged damage dealers (they have no short range at all), but their combo chaining sucks.
Late game makes them good at both.
Their spell pool though, is kind bad, most of the skills being niche use at best.
41. Morrigan and Lilith (Darkstalkers)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Early game is just Morrigan by herself, and she's a one woman army.
By late game Lilith joins up, and thus they are nerfed by Morrigan's best move being replaced by Lilith's, which is slightly weaker. On the other hand, you gain a pretty cheap free turn spell you can spam, and coupled with Morrigan's MP drain spell, makes them the second best support mage team next to Rose.
42. Sabine and Kurino (The Legend of Valkryie)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
These two are the swiss army knife of asskicking. Sabine has a poison dealing attack that is great for combos, while Kurino is good at both combos and raw damage.
Late game just makes them better at what they already do well.
Their spell pool is kind crap though.
43. Valkyrie (The Legend of Valkryie)
Early Game Rank: A
Late Game Rank: A+
Valkyrie early game is basically a more raw damage oriented version of Kurino and Sabine.
Late game will still have her edge them out in this regard.
Her spell pool is somewhat better though, and while it's limited, she makes a good support mage.
....And that's all folks. Now you know how to use the cast to kick ass.
As a bonus, here's some hilarious chibi fanart of the whole cast:
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Necroing this thread briefly for an important reason, it will be important when I cover all games that are sequels to this one.
By Project X Zone 2, they eventually give a condensed summary of the event of Namco X Capcom, but there are some differences in translation and presentation:
1. All names for entities mentioned in N x C default to their official English translations, though oddly they remain inconsistent on Captain Commando, with Baby being referred to as Hoover in spoken dialogue while referred to as Baby in text. I intend to remain consistent with all names used in N x C, with official translation difference noted as they crop up.
2. The translation used to refer to the Ouma's plans in N x C is a bit stilted in Project X Zone 2, and while technically correct, when literally translated to English it sounds very odd.
3. Series that did not return were glossed over or mentioned without naming names to avoid confusion for English players, such as Bravoman and Dig-Dug's canon as part of N x C's plotline.
4. Elements of the N x C "worlds" structure were either ignored or taken in different directions. Makai quietly dropped most elements from the series that did not return, for instance, save Shadowland. Other aspects present since the first crossover, like the Klonoa and Tales of Destiny parts, were also quietly excised or given minimal focus in the sequels, as they did not return.
Interestingly, the Tekken characters come closest to referencing many of these elements, but since the story of that series was so interconnected to many of the series that didn't return to some extent, they had to, such as allusions to Heihaichi's hiring of Dr. Bakuda, which forms the basis of returning characters initial suspicions he's up to no good when they meet again, which Bison uses to his advantage in PXZ2.
The game engine used in the Project X Zone games is an enhanced version of the engine that debuted in the NDS game Endless Frontier, which itself is a heavily revised version of the N x C game engine.
If possible, I intend to cover at least the first Endless Frontier game in a future LS, as PXZ1 uses it's canon as part of it's basis.
By Project X Zone 2, they eventually give a condensed summary of the event of Namco X Capcom, but there are some differences in translation and presentation:
1. All names for entities mentioned in N x C default to their official English translations, though oddly they remain inconsistent on Captain Commando, with Baby being referred to as Hoover in spoken dialogue while referred to as Baby in text. I intend to remain consistent with all names used in N x C, with official translation difference noted as they crop up.
2. The translation used to refer to the Ouma's plans in N x C is a bit stilted in Project X Zone 2, and while technically correct, when literally translated to English it sounds very odd.
3. Series that did not return were glossed over or mentioned without naming names to avoid confusion for English players, such as Bravoman and Dig-Dug's canon as part of N x C's plotline.
4. Elements of the N x C "worlds" structure were either ignored or taken in different directions. Makai quietly dropped most elements from the series that did not return, for instance, save Shadowland. Other aspects present since the first crossover, like the Klonoa and Tales of Destiny parts, were also quietly excised or given minimal focus in the sequels, as they did not return.
Interestingly, the Tekken characters come closest to referencing many of these elements, but since the story of that series was so interconnected to many of the series that didn't return to some extent, they had to, such as allusions to Heihaichi's hiring of Dr. Bakuda, which forms the basis of returning characters initial suspicions he's up to no good when they meet again, which Bison uses to his advantage in PXZ2.
The game engine used in the Project X Zone games is an enhanced version of the engine that debuted in the NDS game Endless Frontier, which itself is a heavily revised version of the N x C game engine.
If possible, I intend to cover at least the first Endless Frontier game in a future LS, as PXZ1 uses it's canon as part of it's basis.
Are you going to publish
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Including: Xenonauts, Phoenix Point, and assorted tactical turn-based alien shoot-a-thons
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